County district attorneys will ask the Patrick administration for about $10 million a year so they can hire prosecutors, investigators, and support staff necessary to deal with the thousands of criminal cases that must be reviewed following the state drug lab scandal, according to several law enforcement officials who were briefed on the budget plans.
Prosecutors and the defense bar agree that unraveling the scandal, linked to former chemist Annie Dookhan, in courthouses across the state will take years to complete, meaning that prosecutors alone may need upward of $50 million if their work takes five years to finish, the officials said. It is the first detailed estimate of legal costs linked to the evidence tampering.
Comments
Taxpayers should not have taxes increased to pay for this fiasco since it is gross negligence on the State's part. patrick and his staff needs to pay for this out of their own pocket. GROSS MISMANAGEMENT AND INCOMPETENCE ON THE GRANDEST SCALE.
The Patrick Administration has to take some responsibility here....the District Attorney's are stuck picking up the refuse and repairing the damage...the very least the Administration and legislature must do is give them the funding they need to deal with this nightmare properly and expeditiously before we have thousands of convicted felons set free because of the state's negligence.
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